AFP news

Hong Kong activist Chan Po-ying became one of the city's only pro-democracy voices after her prominent husband's arrest in 2021, refusing to give up the struggle they had waged together for decades.

Boeing is expected to deliver on Thursday a "comprehensive action plan" required by US air safety regulators after a near-catastrophic incident in January.

Mexico's campaign season came to a bloody end as a gunman shot dead an aspiring mayor at a rally on Wednesday, days before the country is expected to elect its first woman president.

On the edge of the Afghan border with Uzbekistan, where the railway abruptly stops, throngs of young men transfer sacks of wheat or flour from freight trains to trucks.

Rafah residents reported intense artillery shelling and gunfire Thursday in Gaza's far-southern city after Israel said it had seized a strategic corridor on the Palestinian territory's border with Egypt.

Ballot counting was under way on Thursday after South Africans queued long into the night to vote in a watershed election, with partial results suggesting the ANC could lose its 30-year-old unchallenged majority.

A Hong Kong court found 14 people guilty of subversion on Thursday in the biggest case against pro-democracy campaigners since China imposed a national security law to crush dissent.

At a Tehran cafe, Hamid waves his mobile around hoping to latch onto a faint signal and thus bypass Iran's stringent ban on the latest models of iPhone.

Almost every Indian meal requires an onion -- one of the cooking essentials along with sugar and lentils that sweet-talking politicians use to curry favour with their voters by lowering costs.

The EU faces a delicate balancing act as it prepares to rev up taxes on Chinese electric cars to protect European industry, while steering clear of a US-style showdown with Beijing that could spark a trade war.

North Korea fired a salvo of short-range ballistic missiles early Thursday, Seoul's military said, hours after Pyongyang sent hundreds of trash-filled balloons across the border to punish South Korea.

Since the early days of Paris's bid for the 2024 Olympics, the city has been receiving advice from a prestigious counsel: Nobel peace prize winner and social business guru Mohammed Yunus.

Carlos Alcaraz needed four sets to reach the third round of the French Open on Wednesday ahead of a blockbuster clash between defending champion Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka as persistent rain caused widespread disruption to the tournament.

To study semiconductors at Japan's top university, first you need the right clothes -- protective overalls, shoe covers, plastic gloves and a lightweight balaclava to keep your hair out of the way.

Dick Schoof is a veteran spy chief known for running tight ships within the Netherlands' immigration and secret service communities -- roles that now landed him the nomination for the country's top job.

Temperatures in India's capital soared to a national record-high of 52.3 degrees Celsius (126.1 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, figures from the government's weather bureau showed, as it warned of dangerous heat levels in the sprawling megacity.

A major union representing tens of thousands of people at South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that workers will go on strike for the first time, potentially threatening key global semiconductor supply chains.

North Korea has sent balloons full of trash, toilet paper and suspected animal faeces into the South, local media reports said Wednesday, with Seoul's military slamming Pyongyang for their "low class" actions.

The US and Chinese defence chiefs are set to hold rare direct talks in Singapore this weekend, offering hopes of further military dialogue aimed at preventing flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control.

The European Union on Wednesday announced the creation of an "AI Office" of tech experts, lawyers and economists to regulate artificial intelligence under a sweeping new law.

Wealthy countries met their target of providing $100 billion in annual climate aid to poorer countries for the first time in 2022 though two years later than promised, the OECD said Wednesday.

Mining behemoth BHP on Wednesday sought a deadline extension in its takeover pursuit of Anglo American, outlining a suite of measures to soothe shareholder concerns that have derailed previous offers.

Equities fell Wednesday on lingering worries about the outlook for US interest rates, while oil prices extended their rally after an attack on a ship in the Red Sea stoked fresh worries about supplies from the Middle East.

Supplies of food and medicine began arriving at the scene of a deadly landslide in Papua New Guinea Wednesday, with aid workers discovering children rendered mute by the shock of the disaster.

South African voters turned out for a landmark general election on Wednesday, with the ruling ANC's exclusive grip on power in doubt three decades after the advent of democracy.

Israel carried out fresh strikes on Wednesday in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where its forces are battling Hamas militants, after the UN Security Council met to discuss a deadly attack that sparked global outcry.

The Euclid space telescope has discovered seven more rogue planets, shining a light on the dark and lonely worlds floating freely through the universe untethered to any star.

Influential Ethiopian women's rights activist Betelehem Akalework says she has been forced to move home twice in two years after enduring a barrage of online abuse, death threats and physical harassment.

One runs an aerospace parts maker, the other works in a restaurant near a major new oil refinery -- both women will vote in Mexican elections this weekend, but they could be from different countries.